


Say It

by sixwingedbee



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Breakup, M/M, lovers to colleagues, new emotions, no beta no draft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:47:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26135995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sixwingedbee/pseuds/sixwingedbee
Summary: Aeleus had said it so calmly. So short. As if he was stating a fact. The sky is blue. The castle is tall. They were Nobodies before.He was breaking up with him.
Relationships: Aeleus/Ienzo (Kingdom Hearts), Lexaeus/Zexion (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	Say It

The room was suddenly too small. Nowhere to hide. Nowhere to run.

This wasn't what he wanted.

“What do you mean..?” 

How did he not see it coming. 

Aeleus had said it so calmly. So short. As if he was stating a fact. The sky is blue. The castle is tall. They were Nobodies before. 

He was breaking up with him. 

Ienzo barely heard what he said beyond those words. The ringing in his ears became deafening and he could only stare at the space right behind the guard's head. He didn't feel real in this moment. This couldn't be real. 

“Why-- What did I do wrong?!” The volume of his own voice caught him off guard, amplified by his panic. He could see the faintest flinch in the taller man. 

Those blue eyes stared down at Ienzo. The eyes that were always so steady and calm. A swatch of the sky that kept him grounded. “It's nothing you did.”

Liar. He had to be lying. 

“Then why? You said-” The words caught in his throat. An unfamiliar tightness in his chest was slowly making itself known. Coiling uncomfortably. 

“I know what I said, Ienzo.” Aeleus lifted his hand and for a moment it seemed like he would touch Ienzo's face. Like he use to. Like he did just yesterday. The fabric of the gloves barely grazed the younger man's cheek before he pulled back. 

“Why?” Ienzo would continue to ask until he got an answer. 

“I'm too old for you.” Ienzo didn't care. 

“It's inappropriate. I'm suppose to keep you safe. I can't if I'm... distracted.” So he was a distraction now? 

More excuses came. None of them Ienzo cared for. None of them he felt warranted the sudden new feeling swelling inside him. He hadn't felt this awful since...

Since they lied to him. 

“You're so young, Ienzo. You need to focus on making a life for yourself. Find someone closer to your--” 

“I don't want anyone else!” He sounded as young as he was, he knew that. Maybe younger. That Heart wasn't too old, after all. 

“What life, Aeleus?” He wouldn't give the man a chance to respond. He took a step forward, watching him take one back in return. “What life do I have outside of these walls?” He knew he was trapped here. 

When Ansem returned, when Even woke up and stayed home... Talk of his role began again. They missed out on ten years to groom him for this position. They had to catch up. 

Ienzo didn't want it. 

But he stayed. 

He stayed because the guilt of what he did to Radiant Garden ate him up every day. The chance to make things right, to push this World into something even greater than it was a decade ago... He stayed. 

He stayed for Aeleus.

Ienzo lifted a hand and ran it through his hair, pushing the fringe out of his face. Twisting his fingers in the locks. Anything to keep his hands busy. To keep his focus on his words, so he wouldn't fall apart. 

“Those can't be the real reasons. I told you I didn't care about that. You said you didn't care!” 

Once more Aeleus was silent. Of all the times Ienzo didn't want that. 

A clipped laugh finally got out of the youth. He turned his back on Aeleus, letting the hair slip away from his fingers. It didn't fall back into place, not quite. But his eyes were no longer visible to the man. 

“Close to my age.” There was a hint of something else in his voice. “And who would that be, Aeleus?” The question was cold. “Who is my age? Who is willing to overlook what we did? Who will not be chased off by who I am?” He was a prince.

He was once a monster.

But there was still no sound from the guard. 

Ienzo stared down, looking at his hands. At the white coat that now fit him perfectly, the cut so familiar to the black one... For a moment a flash of a memory crossed his vision. Staring down at black leather gloves, imagining the threads that pulled taught over his fingers. He had never been interested in where any of them went. 

Except one. 

And now he could see in horror that it was going slack. 

“Just say it.”

He knew the reason. 

Ienzo didn't need to look at Aeleus to know the look on his face. Of shock. Of realization. 

“Ienzo-”

“I stayed for you.” Venom dripped from his tarnished tongue. “You are the only person I cared about for so long...” 

Ten years of feeling nothing. All Zexion had for Lexaeus was a possessive curiosity. But, it was attention given. Even if all he had been was a tool. 

He turned to face him, and for a moment he was shocked at how blurry Aeleus appeared. Were his powers flaring?

Then he felt the tears rolling down his cheeks. 

And for a moment, Aeleus wavered. For a moment, he nearly gave in to Ienzo, like always. 

But not this time.

“Say it.” 

Those eyes looked so sad. Or was Ienzo projecting? 

“I love you, Aeleus.” And yet the word still felt so foreign on his tongue. As right as it felt in his chest, it felt too heavy behind his teeth. “So, please... Give me the respect of being honest with me.” 

Honest to the Schemer? What a joke.

“Just say-” 

“Don't.”

“- you don't love me anymore.” 

It was the most uncomfortable silence between the two of them. Before the hours between them, just existing in peace, was enjoyed. Fond memories as they busied themselves with their own work. Now, the seconds ticked so slowly. His heart thudded in his ears. An eternity passed between each breath. His chest ached, and the dread coiled itself tighter.

They looked each other in the eye, and Ienzo realize for once he couldn't tell what the man was thinking. 

That connection they always had was finally severed. 

He should have known. Humans could fall in love. They could fall out of love. And all the things they did to each other... Wasn't steady enough for love. It was crumbling under their feet from the very beginning. Even if they tried to fix it. Tried to pretend that Lexaeus was more than a tool for Zexion. A sword. 

Aeleus had been right. 

“I see.” 

The pressure in his chest finally snapped. The pain released itself in a wave. 

And then he felt numb.

For that moment, Ienzo felt like his old self. 

He was still that boy in the dark basement, alone. No longer feeling the tremors caused by the man that was suppose to protect him. He stepped away from Aeleus, heading for the door. “Return to your post.” 

He returned to the lower labs. 

Aeleus gave him a new emotion to study, after all.


End file.
